As an assistant coach in Detroit, Todd McLellan knew the Sharks' reputation: Thrive in the regular season, fold — for whatever reason — in the playoffs.

So when asked Friday if he's surprised that the San Jose team he coached to the Presidents' Trophy faces postseason elimination tonight at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks, the first three words of his response says a lot:

"Disappointed, not surprised."

McLellan put the Sharks through a quiet, subdued practice Friday afternoon, the day after his team lost 4-0 in Anaheim to give the Ducks a commanding three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series. Before his players took the ice, he said he had reminded them how they are perceived.

"Right now our character has been questioned, and it's our job as an organization, as coaches and individuals, to prove people right or wrong," McLellan said, repeating that message to reporters. "We've got to squash that reputation we've developed."

If the Sharks lose tonight in Game 5 of the opening round, it will be the earliest playoff exit in the franchise's 12 postseason appearances since 1994. If the Sharks win, they hope they are on their way to becoming the 21st team in NHL history to advance after getting only one victory in the first four games.

Veteran Jeremy Roenick, who had seen this year as his best shot at returning to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1992 when he was with the Chicago Blackhawks, said that sports mirrors life at this point.

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"Life is about challenges, how you respond to challenges, how you react to challenges," Roenick said. "Are you going to crawl under a rock and wilt? Or are you going to step up and show a little teeth?"

Roenick said there was no value in examining how the Sharks got themselves into this predicament against a No. 8 seed — and a team San Jose beat four out of six times during the regular season.

"We can't change what happened so far," he said. "We've got to try and find a solution to it. Right now, sitting back and wondering why this has happened — if we do that, we'll find ourselves done."

For the Sharks to win, McLellan said, his team's "core players" are going to have to outplay Anaheim's "core players." So far, that hasn't happened.

One of those core players, captain Patrick Marleau, said his team is focused on what it needs to do tonight.

"It's a Game 7 for us," he said, "Desperation has got to be there."

This series has given ammunition to critics who contend that Sharks center Joe Thornton is not someone who can lead a team to postseason success. Thornton has two assists to this point, and was a minus-3 in Thursday's loss.

"It stung, but this morning you wake up and we still have games to play," Thornton said. "We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We realize as a team we can do this."

Thornton acknowledged that he did not play well Thursday. "I thought I had a good game in Game 3 and I thought I'd build off that," he said. "But for whatever reason I just didn't have a good game, that's all."

As for his decision to bypass reporters afterward, the normally easygoing Thornton said: "I just got out of there. I was frustrated."

Looking ahead to Game 5, he added that "I've got to play my best game tomorrow night and then after that, go on from there."

McLellan did elaborate on his disappointment in what has happened so far this series.

"We worked all year to overcome that (reputation) and we're letting it creep back in," he said. "I'm not sure why that's happening, but we all have a part in it" — coaches and players.

McLellan, though, said he had not lost faith in his players.

"Do we believe in this group? Absolutely. We'd be crazy not to," he said. "Fifty-three wins playing a pretty good brand of hockey leads us to believe they can do it again."